Pioneering new ideas of life and health in the 21st Century. The flagship publication for the most innovative and authoritative writer/speaker/instructor on Understanding Conditioning. While he started out like all his friends wondering how to make exercise harder, his breakthrough idea was making exercise as easy as possible -- and therefore inevitable and unavoidable -- as the only effective lifelong strategy for those activities.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Do Your Own "Plastic" Surgery

What makes the human body "plastic," or changeable, are the muscles of the human body -- which are actually most numerous, in the parts of the body people do not normally think of muscles being, but are actually the most expressive and variable of the human body -- at the head (face), hands and feet. Those are the areas a person keenly tuned to determining the fitness of a person, will normally look to ascertain and assess -- first because they are the most visible, and people seldom think to alter this condition to influence the judgment of another.

Thus, most people are poor judges of human character, because they don't think to read a person's face, hands, feet -- but are merely mesmerized by the words -- and thus they are easily deceived by those who simply use the rudiments of appearances. And others, not seeing anything else -- especially in their teachers and university professors, who are renowned for their limited range, grow up thinking nothing else is possible.

Meanwhile, one cannot read a popular publication now, without seeing ads for cosmetic surgeries, as well as the even more accessible "makeovers" -- which are usually just a skilled person knowing that such alterations are possible and could be done by anyone, who simply was disposed to thinking that way, and once seeing that possibility actualized, can easily maintain it. Some become even more inspired to go further in their experimentations.

The most common procedures, because they are done by both men and women, are the eyebrow lift, the eyelid lift, and the neck lift -- which is usually tightening the skin because the muscles under them, have atrophied to the point that they no longer fill that volume -- as they do in more robust (younger) people. Another alternative is to fill that volume with Botox and other such fillers -- including transplanted fat from one's own body.

Probably the best solution though, would be developing the muscles so they maintain the condition and shape conveying one's vitality -- which is not surprisingly, doing the eyebrow lift, eyelid lift, and neck lift -- with the muscles that produce that action. The neck lift, is also what most would consider the very robust "smiling" movement that lifts the face towards the cheeks -- causing that jowly look to momentarily disappear, along with the sag at the neck. Those take the usual 50 repetitions of alternating full contraction and full relaxation -- that can be done concurrently with the more usual movements for the development of the larger muscles of the body, and doing so, rather than the scowl often seen in every effort, makes the experience enjoyable by releasing the chemicals associated with those muscular exertions -- called endorphins -- which provide pleasant sensations while reducing pain and unpleasantness.

Usually, it is very difficult to remain depressed and angry, if one has a smile on their face -- and for that reason alone, one should develop this capacity and facility -- rather than maintaining that perpetual grump to ward off the friendly overtures of others. Many in fact, spend much time alone and therefore, do not feel the need to exercise these expressions (muscles), thinking it is not worth doing, if nobody is around to be influenced by them. But the person who stands to benefit most from their own good "vibes," are they themselves.

That is a monumental oversight in the conditioning of people to do things only for the approbation and influence (manipulation) of others, rather than for their own sense of well-being, that they can give to themselves.

Probably the greatest disservice of promoting exercise as something that one does for the largest muscles of the body, is that these more numerous, but smaller muscles at the extremities of the human body, are neglected and ignored -- when they are by far, the most useful and powerful, in ensuring the health and well-being of the human individual and personality. But fortunately, because of millions of years of evolution, activating the full range of these muscles at the extremity, require the support and engagement of the larger muscles, including the heart, to effect.

This connection has been observed and promoted by such disciplines (practices) as reflexology, accupressure and massage. Some say they can tell a lot (everything) from just a handshake and the energy exchanged in that touch.

While people may undergo cosmetic surgeries for their face, equally telling and expressive, are the muscles of the hand, and the feet -- which in arthritics, is usually disfigured by the absence of muscular development that holds the bones, ligaments and tendons in the proper balance. When that atrophy (lack of development) occurs in the feet, besides disfiguring the feet, they lack the proper balance to stay on their feet reliably, and are usually on their way to acquiring a wheelchair to maintain their mobility.

Much of this can be averted by maintaining the musculature of the head (face), hands, and feet as a priority -- that requires the support of the larger structures exercised otherwise exclusively. I've never seen a person with optimal circulation to the extremities, who wasn't in optimal condition throughout. And then all it takes is very little time, attention and effort -- because it is the great difference between a little, and none. That is the greatest difference one can make in virtually everything, and much greater than the difference between a little and "more."

1 Comments:

The popular thinking and advice is that if you don't do a lot, you shouldn't bother doing a little -- when it is really the little, done daily, that makes the biggest difference in continued vitality and robustness.

A lot of people overdo it while they're enthusiastic and can maintain the discipline and focus -- which usually disappears in a few short weeks unless one adopts an obsessive-compulsion about these things, which again, tends to cause burnout and huge mood and motivation swings.

What is really required, is a program that is well-designed and comprehensive to be an uninvasive daily activity like brushing one's teeth and hair, showering, or preparing a bowl of oatmeal -- and can even be done concurrently.

Such a program will be maintained indefinitely, and almost effortlessly, if at any time, one simply recognizes the need for better circulation, and does any 50 rep movement to immediately effect that.

I've spent hours with a few who resisted and argued rather than simply try it just to see for themselves that such a thing is entirely in fact -- because they have been convinced in their reading and talking to the clueless, that they have to do the much more strenuous, time and energy consuming workout at facilities designed for that purpose, under constant personal (training) supervision, which all makes it prohibitive and abandoned at the first possible opportunity.

That is the great divide -- more than age or condition: those who will see for themselves that they can effect these changes immediately, and those who have been convinced that they have to ask many experts to obtain their permission before they can do anything different in their lives -- when it should be obvious, that maintaining their present status quo, is the greatest danger to their health and well-being.

A few personal trainers I've come across, are so authoritarian and controlling, that they actually have their students petrified of moving in any manner other than as they have been personally instructed to by them -- which is really a remarkable invasion of personal boundaries that no expert or instructor is entitled to.

In an earlier era, there were those instructors, teachers and drill sergeants who felt that they were given carte blanche authority to be obeyed no matter what outrageous demands were made on others -- including the deprivation of water, food and rest.

That was the barbaric notion that fitness was merely surviving that imposition -- and not the better purpose of optimizing and enjoying one's life as much as possible.

That's the new conditioning paradigm -- even if you read it here first.